Natural Resources
of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin

Objectives:

• List numerous natural resources of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin, to understand their relative importance and to realize how a student's lifestyle affects the use of our natural resources.

• Develop an appreciation for the complex inter- relationships of many of these natural resources and how we must learn to steward them.

• Understand that almost all natural resources have both pros and cons surrounding their use.

• Broaden our perspectives by assuming another's position regarding what we consider to be a valuable natural resource.

• Generate and test hypotheses regarding the effects of specific pollutants upon the Lake Pontchartrain Basin ecosystem.

• Allow students to practice developing hypotheses from observational data.

• Demonstrate the scientific method by designing and implementing a controlled experiment.

Multiple Intelligences Learning Activities:

Verbal/Linguistic:

Adopt and verbally defend a particular viewpoint concerning an aspect of our natural resource use dilemma.

Interpersonal:

Choose opposing sides to defend in a current, relevant, natural resource issue and learn how resolution between conflicting interests is achieved.

Verbal/Linguistic:

Formulate and articulate testable hypotheses based upon your own observational data.

Mathematical/Logical:

Test hypotheses using valid scientific methodology.

How Do Some of Our Resources in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Balance Out?

Earth Friendly	Not so Earth Friendly
Fisheries Production Parks, Forests and Wildlife management Areas (WMA) Fur and Hides from Animals Recreation in nautral Areas	Oil and Gas Explorations Timber harvesting Dairy Farms and Agricultural Lands Natural Deepwater Ports for Shipping

Can we make such clear-cut distinctions?
Is Everything Black or White?

Let's Look at Each of These natural Resources in Detail.

Fisheries Production

Oysters

• Abundant food source found especially in saltier waters
• Widespread export potential
• Susceptible to contamination by sewage runoff
• Require boats using oil and gasoline for harvesting

Blue Crabs

• Abundant food source in Lake Pontchartrain Basin
• Important to local seafood industry
• Require boats using oil and gasoline for harvesting

Shrimp

• Abundant food source in Lake Pontchartrain Basin
• Extremely important to local seafood industry
• Require boats using oil and gasoline for harvesting

Finfish

• Supports a very large recreational industry
• Vital to local seafood industry and tourism
• Requires boats using oil and gasoline for harvesting
• Often uses such devices as gill nets, which are nearly invisible nets that trap fish by snagging them by their gill plates, and can harm non-target species (it is notable that gill nets currently represent a significant point of contention between commercial fishers who generally support their use and recreational fishers who oppose their use - this controversy is largely due to the non-selective manner in which fish are ensnared)

* Sustainable and Renewable Resources! *

Parks, Forest
and Wildlife Management Areas

Parks

• Provide limited habitat for wildlife but require continual maintenance
• Many people visit using motor vehicles - oil and gas consumption is high

State and National Forests

• Good wildlife habitat
• Less human impact and maintenance

Wildlife Management Areas

• Primary wildlife habitat, but usually managed for a select group of species which are money-makers; examples include ducks, deer and turkey

* Sustainable and Renewable Resources *

Fur and Hides From Animals

Nutria

• Good fur and meat although there is little demand for this animal
• Extremely aggressive breeder
• Can displace native fur-bearers and permanently damage wetland ecosystems
• Use of fur is controversial

Muskrat

• Good fur
• Numbers have declined somewhat in recent years
• Also capable of widespread ecological damage
• Use of fur is controversial

Alligator

• Excellent leather made from hides
• Local success story - alligators were brought back from the brink of extinction and are now managed exceptionally well
• Good market for hides and meat
• Use of hides is controversial

* Sustainable and Renewable Resources! *

Recreational Areas

Sailing

• Excellent non-polluting activity
• Boatbuilding industries consume oil and gas, some are polluters
• Larger sailboats use gasoline engines periodically

Camping

• Encourages appreciation of wild and natural areas
• Users often arrive by automobile - consume oil and gas

Fishing

• Encourages appreciation of wild and natural areas
• Users often make use of gasoline-powered vehicles

Hunting

• Encourages appreciation of wild and natural areas
• Users often make use of gasoline-powered vehicles

Multi-Use Areas

• Recreation areas such as the Tammany Trace provide public access for activities such as hiking, running, skating, cycling, and bird-watching

Timber Harvesting

Pine Plantations

• Carefully regulated and managed growth process provides a continual supply of trees for paper and building materials
• Clear-cut forests destroy wildlife habitat and increase potential for widespread erosion

Baldcypress Harvesting

• Trees harvested with little consideration of damage done to local wetlands causing loss of huge tracts of swamp forests - minimal opportunities for natural re-growth of trees
• Cypress trees can live as long as 2000 years and require at least 25-50 years to reach maturity
• Yields excellent lumber

* Sustainable and Renewable Resources! *

Dairy Farms and Agricultural Lands

Dairy Farms

• Provide convenient source of dairy products to satisfy market demands
• Indiscriminate disposal of waste products results in dramatically increased bacterial levels in local waterways which renders recreational areas on rivers unfit for human use

Agricultural Lands

• Fertile alluvial soils provide rich harvests of corn, soy beans and other crops
• High levels of chemical fertilizers and pesticides contaminate rainwater runoff from farms which eventually poison streams and bayous

Oil and Gas Exploration

High Market Demand

• Ensures continued exploration and development of petroleum-related products

Leaks and Spills

• Environmentally catastrophic results from uncontained oil
• Death of plants, animals, even entire ecosystems can result

Topographical Modifications for Drilling Access

• Canal dredging, levee building and impoundment can alter and destroy entire ecosystems - prime example is rapid influx of saltwater into formerly fresh or brackish marsh areas

Natural Deepwater Ports for Shiping

Provide Impetus for Countless Local Businesses

• Provide import/export facilities, bases for grain, petroleum, and chemical industries

Frequent Shipping Can Cause Pollution Problems

• Oil and gas spills, leaks, and dumps foul and pollute local waterways - can damageand contaminate local fish and shellfish populations

Topographical Modifications for Shipping Access

• Canal dredging, levee building and impoundment can alter and destroy entire ecosystems - prime example is rapid influx of saltwater into formerly fresh or brackish marsh areas - Mississippi River Gulf Outlet

How We See the Puzzle...

• Using the figure "How We See the Puzzle..." (below) as a handout or transparency, the educator should discuss the various facets of our natural resource dilemma with the students and present the facts.

• Students should be encouraged to view our role in nature as a protector or steward and the management of our shared natural sources as a responsibility to be fostered rather than a product for exploitation.

• Our personal interests in, and dependency upon, particular aspects of any given resource is what makes this give and take process interesting and challenging. It is also what lends the "jigsaw puzzle" characteristics to the entire situation.

• It is important for the educator to present the facts with equanimity and untainted with personal bias. Perhaps the most useful approach is to use the following page as an overhead transparency and discuss with the students possible ways in which we can solve the puzzle of too many demands upon too few resources.

How We See the Puzzle in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin

PRO	CON
Agriculture & Dairy Farms are Necessary to Produce Food Best Management Practices can Yield Sustainable Timber Crops Money from Oil & Gas Exploration Generates Many Jobs Oil Companies are Conscientiously Developing Research Programs Which Minimize Environmental Damage Fisheries Management Can Actually Increase Abundance	Agriculture & Dairy Farms Affect Water Quality With Runoff Timber Harvesting Reduces Available Wildlife Habitat Oil & Gas Exploration Often Pollute Recreational Areas Oil & Gas Chemical Spills Reduce and Contaminate Seafood Harvests Overfishing Can Decimate Populations in Many Areas

Activities: Goals, Interactions, Outcomes The Effects of Agricultural Fertilizer Runoff Upon Aquatic Ecosystems Salt is Good on Sunflower Seeds, but What About Cypress

©1998 Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation

Lessons on the Lake is published by the
Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation
Metairie, LA